Patuli connector, Red Road new ‘speed zones’ in Kolkata – Times of India

Kolkata: The Baishnabghata-Patuli (BP) connector and Red Road recorded the most speed violations in the January-March period this year. In comparison, EM Bypass and Basanti Highway, considered as ‘speed zones’, reported lesser violations. The finding is based on a Kolkata Traffic Police quarterly review for 21 select points.
The summary report of speed signages for February, March and April 2022 (speed limit-60km/hour), highlighted the duration in which a few select roads in the city witnessed speeding. “Violators were mostly found to be driving in the range of 80-85km/hour — about 20km faster than the allowed maximum speed, though at certain points it even crosses 150 km/hour,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
However, the cops believe the strict traffic vigilance has helped prosecute the speeding vehicles. The Patuli connector saw 21,105 violations (7.4 lakh motorists and bikers) in January and another 23,600 (7.5 lakh motorists and bikers) in the month of February, before cops set up speed guns to bring down this figure in March. The violations ranged between 2.8% to 3.1% of all road users. The highest speed recorded here was 153km/hr in January and 142km/hr in February.
Similarly, Red Road saw 13,045 and 12,096 violations in January and February respectively — about 2.4% to 2.9% of motorists and bikers crossing the permissible speed limit. The highest speed recorded here in January was 142km/hr and 159km/hr in both February and March.
The Diamond Harbour Road, having witnessed 12 accidents between January and March, saw highest speed near Pathakpara, reaching between 100-112km/hr. Basanti highway, where 2.1% of motorists indulged in gross speed violations saw highest speed of 130km/hr. Even SC Mullick road near Tulip School saw 123km/hr, though over speeding was noticed in less than 0.1% of motorists here.
In all, these three months saw 5,049 motorists to be over speeding. There have also been close to 18,953 signal violations during the same time. In March this year, the city witnessed 2,788 persons being prosecuted for speeding as compared to 915 in the month of March last year.
Of the 2,788 cases of speeding recorded in March, about 263 people were prosecuted for rash driving in the headquarter traffic guard area, 240 were prosecuted in the east guard area. EM Bypass emerged on top with Garia traffic guard prosecuting 673 people and another 637 booked by Tiljala traffic guard.